Dan Garisto
@dangaristo.bsky.social
science journalist | good physics, bad physics, and sometimes ugly physics
Signal: dgaristo.72
Email: digaristo@gmail.com
Signal: dgaristo.72
Email: digaristo@gmail.com
Reposted by Dan Garisto
I heard from a bunch of federal employees last night and this morning. They aren't happy.
"I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."
"I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."
'A Slap in the Face': Federal Employees Feel Betrayed by Democrats' Shutdown Cave
"I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something."
www.gravityisgone.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I heard from a bunch of federal employees last night and this morning. They aren't happy.
"I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."
"I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."
Reposted by Dan Garisto
The only exception to that is with respect to reductions in force (RIFs). The bill appears to both roll back RIFs announced during the shutdown and prevent any further RIFs between now and Jan 30.
November 10, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The only exception to that is with respect to reductions in force (RIFs). The bill appears to both roll back RIFs announced during the shutdown and prevent any further RIFs between now and Jan 30.
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
The neat thing about writing about foundations of quantum mechanics is that it makes everyone mad, often for completely different reasons.
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The neat thing about writing about foundations of quantum mechanics is that it makes everyone mad, often for completely different reasons.
This is the reality for many grantees at Cornell and elsewhere with frozen grants: after a certain amount of time the loss (in money, research time, or personnel) is unrecoverable.
Paying $60 million doesn't get that all back.
Paying $60 million doesn't get that all back.
Both stop work orders on my two grants have now been released. Unfortunately, the agency for one grant reallocated the funds, so likely those won't come back.
This has gone on for seven months now, and there was no clear point to any of it. I am grateful to colleagues for stepping in to help out.
This has gone on for seven months now, and there was no clear point to any of it. I am grateful to colleagues for stepping in to help out.
November 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM
This is the reality for many grantees at Cornell and elsewhere with frozen grants: after a certain amount of time the loss (in money, research time, or personnel) is unrecoverable.
Paying $60 million doesn't get that all back.
Paying $60 million doesn't get that all back.
Somewhat surprising news: the total number of international students in the US has stayed relatively flat, year-over-year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
International PhD student numbers in US hold steady — for now
Trend flies in face of Trump-administration policies, but could yet see a rapid decrease, especially in science fields.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Somewhat surprising news: the total number of international students in the US has stayed relatively flat, year-over-year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
Do we really need something 'imaginary' to describe reality?
Generations of physicists have wondered about the role of imaginary numbers in the heart of quantum mechanics. A few years ago, researchers claimed it was indispensable. Now, two teams have found a way to vanquish 𝓲—sort of. My reporting:
Generations of physicists have wondered about the role of imaginary numbers in the heart of quantum mechanics. A few years ago, researchers claimed it was indispensable. Now, two teams have found a way to vanquish 𝓲—sort of. My reporting:
Physicists Take the Imaginary Numbers Out of Quantum Mechanics | Quanta Magazine
Quantum mechanics has at last been formulated exclusively with real numbers, bringing a mathematical puzzle at the heart of the theory into a new era of inquiry.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Do we really need something 'imaginary' to describe reality?
Generations of physicists have wondered about the role of imaginary numbers in the heart of quantum mechanics. A few years ago, researchers claimed it was indispensable. Now, two teams have found a way to vanquish 𝓲—sort of. My reporting:
Generations of physicists have wondered about the role of imaginary numbers in the heart of quantum mechanics. A few years ago, researchers claimed it was indispensable. Now, two teams have found a way to vanquish 𝓲—sort of. My reporting:
Reposted by Dan Garisto
BREAKING: Cornell caved.
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
November 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM
BREAKING: Cornell caved.
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
Highlighting this paper not because it is good, but because it is an illustrative example of how 'just throw AI/ML at it' doesn't begin to address actual physical/engineering obstacles.
The authors essentially train a neural network on existing high-Tc compounds and have it guess new ones.
The authors essentially train a neural network on existing high-Tc compounds and have it guess new ones.
AI-Driven Discovery of High-Temperature Superconductors via Materials Genome Initiative and High-Throughput Screening
Inspired by nature, this study employs the Materials Genome Initiative to identify key components of HTSC superconductors. Integrating AI with high-throughput screening, we uncover crucial superconduc...
arxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Highlighting this paper not because it is good, but because it is an illustrative example of how 'just throw AI/ML at it' doesn't begin to address actual physical/engineering obstacles.
The authors essentially train a neural network on existing high-Tc compounds and have it guess new ones.
The authors essentially train a neural network on existing high-Tc compounds and have it guess new ones.
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot. n.pr/3JKj19D
50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
n.pr
November 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot. n.pr/3JKj19D
When you mix up your dog whistle with your fog horn.
November 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
When you mix up your dog whistle with your fog horn.
Gutting the federal workforce and shutting down the government does not appear to have gone well for the GOP in Alexandria, VA.
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Gutting the federal workforce and shutting down the government does not appear to have gone well for the GOP in Alexandria, VA.
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Another casualty of the LLM revolution.
In "arXiv’s CS category, review articles and position papers must now be accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review."
In "arXiv’s CS category, review articles and position papers must now be accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review."
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 2, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Another casualty of the LLM revolution.
In "arXiv’s CS category, review articles and position papers must now be accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review."
In "arXiv’s CS category, review articles and position papers must now be accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review."
I feel bad for LA/Toronto, but this is tremendous content
November 2, 2025 at 3:41 AM
I feel bad for LA/Toronto, but this is tremendous content
So another 9 innings, right?
November 2, 2025 at 3:22 AM
So another 9 innings, right?
Reposted by Dan Garisto
BREAKING: Federal judge rules that the Trump administration likely illegally suspended SNAP benefits, ruling that at least reduced distribution is required to go forward under law using the $6 billion reserve fund.
Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.
Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.
![UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS ET AL.,
Plaintiffs,
V.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ET AL.,
Defendants.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-13165-IT
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
October 31, 2025
TALWANI, D.J.
Pending before the court is Plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order [Doc.
No. 3] seeking to enjoin, on an emergency basis, Defendants' November 1, 2025 suspension of benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP"). For the reasons stated
below, Plaintiffs have standing to bring this action and are likely to succeed on their claim that
Defendants' suspension of SNAP benefits is unlawful. Where that suspension of benefits rested
on an erroneous construction of the relevant statutory provisions, the court will allow Defendants
to consider whether they will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November, and report
back to the court no later than Monday, November 3, 2025.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreiczapq36myqhzcrdp4jfodg5rkso7nuvlta4e5b5r4l5upce7b3le@jpeg)
![As both parties acknowledge, Congress has not yet appropriated any new funds for SNAP
benefits for Fiscal Year 2026, which began on October 1, 2025. Pls.' Mem. 6 [Doc. No. 4];
Defs.' Opp'n 7 [Doc. No. 18]. But Congress took steps to protect against the deprivation of
SNAP assistance. In the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 118-42, § 6, 138
Stat. 25, 93-94, Congress separately appropriated $6 billion to the SNAP program "to remain available through September 30, 2026" and "be placed in reserve for use only in such amounts and at such times as may become necessary to carry out program operations." See also Pub. L.
No. 119-4, § 1101(a), 139 Stat. 9, 10 (2025). As Plaintiffs point out, given the mandatory nature
of SNAP benefits under 7 U.S.C. § 2014(a) and the appropriation of these funds to be available
10
Case 1:25-cv-13165-IT
Document 26 Filed 10/31/25
Page 11 of 15
through this current fiscal year, the government is obligated to use this contingent reserve
account to fund SNAP "as may become necessary to carry out program operations." 138 Stat. at
93-94; Pls.' Mem. 11 [Doc. No. 4].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreiac7aa6icx44x5xjkilpwj7il5oriyttttnrslzrhkwvw6b32cbnm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 5:59 PM
BREAKING: Federal judge rules that the Trump administration likely illegally suspended SNAP benefits, ruling that at least reduced distribution is required to go forward under law using the $6 billion reserve fund.
Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.
Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.
Missed this at the time (busy w/shutdown stuff), but on Sept. 30 NSF dropped its appeal for the 15% indirect cost case. The AAU is now suing NSF to recoup ~330,000 in legal fees.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Missed this at the time (busy w/shutdown stuff), but on Sept. 30 NSF dropped its appeal for the 15% indirect cost case. The AAU is now suing NSF to recoup ~330,000 in legal fees.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Overall social media use is declining.
Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all.
A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.
Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all.
A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.
October 30, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Overall social media use is declining.
Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all.
A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.
Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all.
A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.
For the uninitiated: The busy beaver problem is an extremely compelling, Conway-esque expedition into the daunting wilds of the finite, and you couldn't ask for a better guide than Ben.
Strongly recommend.
Strongly recommend.
I published a new post on my rarely updated personal blog! It's a sequel of sorts to my Quanta coverage of the Busy Beaver game, focusing on a particularly fearsome Turing machine known by the awesome name Antihydra.
Why Busy Beaver Hunters Fear the Antihydra
In which I explore the biggest barrier in the busy beaver game. What is Antihydra, what is the Collatz conjecture, how are they connected, and what makes them so daunting?
benbrubaker.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:13 PM
For the uninitiated: The busy beaver problem is an extremely compelling, Conway-esque expedition into the daunting wilds of the finite, and you couldn't ask for a better guide than Ben.
Strongly recommend.
Strongly recommend.
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Another tidbit in our new #Melissa story: the government shutdown means that federal researchers weren't gathering the usual science data during hurricane-hunter flights, because only mission-critical data were allowed. And those who did fly aren't getting paid. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This ‘impressive’ AI model predicted Hurricane Melissa’s perilous growth
An artificial-intelligence tool is helping to crack the challenge of forecasting hurricane intensity.
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Another tidbit in our new #Melissa story: the government shutdown means that federal researchers weren't gathering the usual science data during hurricane-hunter flights, because only mission-critical data were allowed. And those who did fly aren't getting paid. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Not the first and not the last international collaboration to be upended by the Trump administration's actions, but a striking example.
Argentina’s move to woo Trump has derailed South America’s largest radio telescope
U.S.-Chinese tensions have left nearly complete observatory in limbo, jeopardizing research into pulsars and other celestial objects
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Not the first and not the last international collaboration to be upended by the Trump administration's actions, but a striking example.
One of those, 'huh, did we really not know this?' papers. Apparently this is the first measurement of liquid nitrogen's scintillation properties. (Noble elements like argon and xenon are preferred because of their inert properties, but some upcoming experiments use LN to cool the detectors.)
Scintillation of liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is commonly used in cryogenic applications and is a promising medium for the direct immersion cooling of sensors used for nuclear and particle physics experiments. The scintillation pr...
arxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:06 PM
One of those, 'huh, did we really not know this?' papers. Apparently this is the first measurement of liquid nitrogen's scintillation properties. (Noble elements like argon and xenon are preferred because of their inert properties, but some upcoming experiments use LN to cool the detectors.)
Reposted by Dan Garisto
Lightning flashes within the powerful eye wall of Hurricane Melissa.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
October 27, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Lightning flashes within the powerful eye wall of Hurricane Melissa.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
LLM misinfo may be a similar type of failure mode on the user end, in the sense that 'incorrect or inaccurate information was not detected' by the reader, but it is profoundly different from the producer end.
1/2 It definitely takes getting used to not being relying on human heuristics for lack of knowledge of sloppiness (lack of sloppiness, typos, etc). Not trivial, I agree
It's rather similar to evaluating news articles by journalists (who may write more than one article in a day on different topics)
It's rather similar to evaluating news articles by journalists (who may write more than one article in a day on different topics)
October 28, 2025 at 2:57 PM
LLM misinfo may be a similar type of failure mode on the user end, in the sense that 'incorrect or inaccurate information was not detected' by the reader, but it is profoundly different from the producer end.
Interesting paper from two Argentinian ecologists applies network analysis (like that used in food webs) to the tangled accusations of blame around the Grenfell Towers disaster.
The Anatomy of Blame: A Network Analysis of Strategic Responsibility-Shifting After a Systemic Disaster
After disasters, blame becomes a key mechanism through which institutions negotiate responsibility and legitimacy. Yet the structure of these exchanges remains poorly understood. Using evidence from t...
arxiv.org
October 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Interesting paper from two Argentinian ecologists applies network analysis (like that used in food webs) to the tangled accusations of blame around the Grenfell Towers disaster.